A NeverEnding Battle
by Ree-Maxwell
Summary: Harry, Cho, blah blah blah. I really don't fancy Cho so I don't know why I wrote this... Eh, read it or I'll take ye plunder!
1. Memories and Michael

Cho Chang glanced through the circular window in her Ravenclaw common room out onto the rainy fields of Hogwarts. She could see a group of first years scurrying past the lake that held the giant squid, holding books over their heads to keep the drops from soaking them. She couldn't focus on her Potions essay at the moment, and it wasn't the annoying rapping on the window that was keeping her mind occupied. It was the one thing that she was trying to keep out of her thoughts since last summer in her sixth year, Harry Potter.  
  
Harry was one year younger than her, but yet she found him irresistible. He had witnessed the death of her old boyfriend, Cedric, and through controversy on whether Harry was an attention-seeking liar or not, Cho believed that Lord Voldemort had committed the crime of Cedric's murder, just as Harry claimed.  
  
But last year Cho had confused herself with her feelings for Cedric and Harry. Harry had been there for her to cry on about her lost feelings for Cedric, but during those times she built up feelings for Harry as well. Unfortunately, things did not work out between the two of them and they ended up not together after all.  
  
Yet, as Cho looked out onto the rainy day during her last year at Hogwarts, she couldn't help but remembering the stormy three years ago that Harry fell off of his broom during a Quidditch match against Cedric and the panic that Cho felt deep inside as he tumbled down the fifty feet from the air.  
  
She rolled up the parchment that she started her essay on and tossed it into her backpack. She was hungry and needed a dinner. Besides, all she could think about was Harry and would end up failing her essay with only him on her mind. As Cho brushed out of the common room with her backpack slung over her shoulder, Michael Corner called her name from outside the doorway.  
  
"Cho. Hey, Cho!"  
  
"Hello, Michael." She could feel her face burn up. Cho had dated Michael at the end of last term after Gryffindor had defeated Ravenclaw at Quidditch. "What's up? I'm going down to dinner now if you'd care to join me." Cho knew she didn't want to get into anything again with him, but she needed to get her mind off of Harry.  
  
"Sure," he started as the two of them headed off to the Great Hall to eat their dinners. "I was just wondering how your summer went and all. I mean, after you, uh, broke up with me, I, uh, haven't been able to talk to you." Michael now was the one with a face of scarlet.  
  
"Right, sorry about that," she said quickly, making sure not to look at Michael. "Well, it was fine. I went to Korea with my parents for a month. How about you?"  
  
"Okay. but that's not important. I really just wanted to tell you that," Michael paused for a moment and stared down at his shoes. Cho realized that this was to hide his face, which was now a violent shade of red. "I still really like you, Cho, and I want to know what I did wrong so I can fix what was between us."  
  
Cho stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"Cho, I know that you like me, too. So what can I do to fix it between us? Please, Cho. You're so beautiful and sweet and I'd do anything to be with you." With that, Michael placed his right hand on Cho's left ear and pulled their faces together as he kissed her hard on the lips. Cho tried to break away from his grasp, but unable, she waited for him to stop.  
  
A rush of anger filled Cho. She liked him, too? The only reason that she had dated him in the first place was to make Harry jealous and the only reason she was talking to him now was because she needed to get her mind off of Harry.  
  
"You know what you could do, Michael, since you like me so much? Fuck. Off." And with that Cho stormed down the hall leaving Michael staring behind her. But Michael wasn't the only person left staring at her in the hallway.  
  
"Hello, Cho."  
  
That was the end of my first chapter; I hope you guys enjoyed it. They will get longer, I promise. The ending kind of reminded me of Silence of the Lambs :P Keep on reading and review, please! 


	2. A Heart Broken

Harry stood face-to-face with Cho in the corridor now, clutching his books in his hands with his backpack split open on the ground. He wore a look of determination on his face as he stared at her. Cho turned a shade of blush as Harry's green eyes sent a cold chill down her spine. She could tell that he was angry, but why she did not understand. Harry had no more interest in Cho as she understood. The two of them were history.  
  
"I'm not dating Michael, Harry," Cho blurted out without realizing it. Subconsciously, she knew that she didn't want Harry to believe that she liked Michael. She needed to let Harry know that she still had feelings deep down for him, that she still liked him.  
  
"Should I give a bloody damn? It's your love life, not mine, Cho." Cho looked at Harry surprisingly. Her mind flashed back to her fifth year, when Harry cornered her after one of her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and asked her to the ball. Back then, his face was vividly flushed, and he radiated vulnerability. Now, his voice was stern and his eyes focused right into hers, not blinking and not giving into her newly dripping tears.  
  
"I wish it was yours too, Harry," she said barely above a whisper but enough for Harry to hear as she regained her balance and darted back to the common room to shut herself inside her four-poster and let her broken heart take the best of her.  
  
By ten o'clock that night, girls in Cho's bedroom began to enter for their nights of rest into the second day of their seventh year at Hogwarts. She was able to stifle her cries until her best friend, Marietta, pulled open the curtains that concealed Cho and smothered her in her arms. Cho burst into tears as she relived the scene of horror she had faced only two hours ago and how much she still like Harry, how much she had wanted to tell him.  
  
"Please, don't cry, Cho. He was just angry. I would be too if I had seen you kissing Michael. He probably doesn't want to let himself believe he still has feelings for you. I'm telling you to confront him tomorrow at breakfast, and I hate the slimy git. I just want to see you happy. Come on, Cho. If he says no to how you feel, then you need to forget him. Now, let's go to bed."  
  
"Right. We don't want to be tired for our first NEWT divination lesson. Who knows what Trelawney will make of our yawns? Probably spend the class preaching that we're going to die a very short death caused by some freak accident with a root of insomnia." The two girls tucked themselves into their beds giggling and fell into dreamless sleeps.  
  
When Cho woke up the next morning, all she could think about was facing Harry in the Great Hall. She didn't know what to say or how to come about. And what if he laughed in her face and denied her loudly in front of the entire Gryffindor table or whoever was around? Butterflies flew around her stomach as she changed into her robes and sorted out what books she needed for the morning's classes.  
  
"Good morning, Cho," Marietta smiled out as they met at the exit of the Ravenclaw common room. "Are you ready to go down?" Cho nodded her head as they walked from the tower on the west side of the castle to the breakfast table.  
  
Cho sat down next to a sixth year, Padma Patil, who was nibbling on a buttered piece of toast. She looked up and grinned as she stated, "You look excellent today, Cho. Who you trying to impress?" and went back to eating and chatting with her fellow sixth years. Cho felt enlightened by Padma's words because it was true that she looked excellent. She had spent extra time today on her make up and hair, hoping that it would effect how Harry would respond to her. Cho scanned the Gryffindor table for a minute before she noted Harry sitting next a tall boy with red hair she unhappily recognized as Ron Weasley. She knew that Ron was Harry's best friend and a bit oblivious when it came to minding his business between Cho and Harry's relationship. But the weight of what she wanted to tell Harry outdid the hate she had for Ron, so she gained her courage and walked past the Hufflepuffs, to the Gryffindor table.  
  
"Hello, Harry."  
  
"Cho." Harry didn't turn to face her, but she could see his eyebrows rise. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Err. yes, actually. I was wondering if I could have a word with you. Maybe away from the breakfast table."  
  
Harry turned around and faced Cho, his eyes scanning up and down her before he spoke. "Whatever you need to say, you can say here," he smirked as a fake smile spread across his face. By this time Ron and a few other Gryffindors were focusing on Cho and Harry's conversation. She gave them uneasy looks and went back to Harry.  
  
"I'd rather not. Please, Harry. Can you come take a walk with me? Please?"  
  
"Shouldn't you be off fucking Michael Corner? Or has he become a bit of a bore for you?" Cho stepped back from Harry, a look of disgust plastered on her face.  
  
"I beg your pardon, but I would choke myself with Lord Voldemort's (Ron and his surrounders flinched) wand before I would even let that prat get within a foot near my robes. And if you actually care to know what the purpose of me coming over here to talk to you, it was because I want you to know that I lose sleep over you, Harry. I can't get my mind over you since we fought last year. I love you." And with that, Cho stormed out of the Great Hall and directly to the trap door to be the first one to divination.  
  
Muahahaha! 


	3. Cho's Pain

Cho slumped into the Ravenclaw common room later than usual that night, disregarding her homework and the happy chants of her name from her friends. It wasn't until Marietta opened up the curtains of Cho's four- poster that she talked to someone. With mascara streaked down her pink puffy cheeks, Cho explained in great detail every word and motion Harry had used in their argument. And how she told him that she loved him.  
  
By the next morning, Cho had partially forgotten the events of yesterday, or at least she tried fore they lurked in the back of her mind. Bearing a smile and waving to all her friends in the corridors, Cho acted as if nothing had ever happened, as if she was back to her usual self and had never left the pain she left as she tucked herself to sleep last night.  
  
"He doesn't love me. He hates me," she remembering crying last night before her head hit the pillow to crash into a deep sleep. In her dreams, all she could recall the next morning was that she was sharing a hot cup of tea with Harry at Madam Puddifoot's when Harry got up swiftly and said, "I have better places to be, Cho," and he jogged out of the shop, arms linked with a Gryffindor in his class, Hermione Granger.  
  
As Cho was reliving her ridiculous dream on her way to Divination she realized that that was what had caused the arguing between Harry and Cho in the fist place, Hermione. It was Hermione Harry left for on their date on Valentine's Day. And it was Hermione that Harry sided with when Cho complained about the spell Hermione had put on anyone that told on their secret defense group. Hermione was the reason that Cho and Harry would never have a chance. As long as Hermione was around.  
  
A surge of anger took over Cho as Hermione herself walked past her in the hallway. Hate she had never felt before, even for Lord Voldemort when he murdered Cedric, crawled through her blood as she dropped her books on the floor and drew out her wand. There was Hermione, books clutched to her chest and chatting merrily with Harry at her side. Her jealousy was taking control of her, she wanted to hurt Hermione, to show her the pain that she caused Cho to feel every day. There was only one spell she knew that would display the hate she felt for the sixteen-year-old Gryffindor that was laughing with Harry as she marched down to her next class.  
  
"Crucio!" Cho screamed, aiming her wand indomitably at Hermione. Hermione's large brown hair stood on its ends as she let out a painful scream, splitting the ears of those in the corridor. Her back formed an arch and her feet lifted off the ground. It wasn't for another fifteen seconds before Cho lowered her wand, a grin spreading across her face, until she looked up at Harry.  
  
"Hermione! Oh my God, Hermione. Are you okay?" Harry was kneeling down at the ground, holding Hermione's head in his arms. Then as if he had just put what had happened together, he handed Hermione over to Ron and stood up, facing Cho. Within the next second, Harry was on top of Cho, his hands around her neck, shaking her madly, screaming on the top of his lungs.  
  
"You bitch! You stupid little slut! What's your problem! What the fuck is your problem?" Tears surged down Cho's face; her body helplessly limp on the ground. She closed her eyes as Harry tried to strangle her, then moving on to punching her across her face. She could feel the blooding streaming out of her nose. But she didn't care. All she cared about was that she had hurt Hermione. She had shown Hermione what it was like to feel pain, to understand what Cho had faced in her heart ever since Cedric had died in her fifth-year. She showed Hermione how she felt about her. How much she loved Harry.  
  
"Cho? Cho, are you okay? Wake up. Come on, Cho, wake up!" Cho opened her eyes to the face of Roger Davies, the captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, a good friend of hers. "Oh, great! You're okay. Hold on, let me get Madame Pomfrey," he said gleefully and hopped away from her hospital bed.  
  
Cho looked down at her body. Her torso was wrapping up in bandages, as if it was seriously damaged. She went to move her body upright, but a sharp pain hit her in the chest and she tumbled back to a laying position.  
  
"Now, don't try to get up, dear," Madame Pomfrey exclaimed from the foot of Cho's bed. "I suspect the Headmaster will be in any minute to see you. Just keep seated the way you are, and drink this. It'll lessen the pain." Cho took a sip of medicine from Madame Pomfrey and looked back at Roger.  
  
"Well, um, I don't know what that was all about, but, um, I'm glad you're okay," he stuttered out, not looking at Cho in the eyes, but more of his own feet. Cho smiled. Roger was cute when he was blushing, but not as cute as she remembered Harry when he had asked her to the ball. Her mind flashed back to Harry. She thought of the times she would get nervous during the defense group when Harry would walk over to see how she was doing. She looked up at Roger, who was mumbling something inaudible to Cho. She thought how she never felt that nervous around Roger, or any other boy for that matter. Only Harry.  
  
"Thanks for coming, Roger. I appreciate it," Cho sighed out with a smile. Roger turned his head her way.  
  
"No problem," he gazed back at his shoes and continued to talk. "As long as you're okay, I suppose I will go back to class. Bye." He stood up and began to walk out of the infirmary, but turned back, gave Cho a peck on her cheek, and walked back out with out saying a word.  
  
As Cho went to rub the spot on her face where Roger had kissed her, Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, strolled into the hospital wing, his hands in the pockets of his flowing robes, whistling a tune Cho recognized as a song by the Weird Sisters. She couldn't help but uttering a chuckle.  
  
Professor Dumbledore sat down at the end of Cho's bed. Looking her straight in the eyes he said, "I assume you know why I am here, Miss Chang."  
  
"I can take a guess, sir." Cho attempted to sound brave and not intimidated by the Headmaster, who was now fumbling with the edges of Cho's sheets. He continued.  
  
"Well, whatever compelled you to perform the Cruciatus curse of Miss Granger must have been caused by a long-term hate, because the damage that you inflicted upon her may be unfixable." Dumbledore linked his long fingers together and glanced over to another patient sitting four beds away from Cho. She was sleeping at the time, her mouth lazily opened, and the sheet unorganized on top of her. Cho couldn't help but feel slightly triumphant. Dumbledore said Cho had caused serious damage to her, and there was Hermione, lying helplessly on the bed. "I do hope you understand that you have used an Unforgivable Curse, Miss Chang, and the consequences cannot be taken lightly in this case."  
  
Cho looked up at Dumbledore and mumbled, "I understand."  
  
"With the understanding that you will be of-age in three weeks, expulsion from Hogwarts along with a six month sentence in Azkaban is in order." Cho's jaw dropped. She was going to Azkaban. Dumbledore continued once more. "Miss Chang, you are extremely lucky that you were under-age when you performed that curse. Otherwise, the Ministry would have decided upon a lifetime sentence in Azkaban." He twiddled his fingers a bit and then stood up sharply. "Your parents will be arriving soon, and we will be able to discuss the matters then. In the mean time, I believe you have a visitor."  
  
As Dumbledore exited the hospital wing, someone walked in. The last person Cho wanted to see walking into the medical center at this time, Harry Potter. 


	4. The Consequences of Hate

"Uh, hi, Cho," Harry said, his facing turning a blushing pink. He stood at the end of her bed, wiggling his feet and acting as if they were the most fascinating things he had ever seen. Times like these, when Harry was so shy and cute, Cho understood why she loved him so much.  
  
"You can sit down," Cho stated as she gestured to a chair near her head and the end of the bed. "Take your pick. It doesn't matter to me." She smiled at him, as he chose neither the foot of the bed nor the chair, but right next to her side on the bed.  
  
After an awkward moment of silence, Harry and Cho blurted out at the same time, "I'm sorry," followed by a minute of giggles. Once that settled down, Harry looked Cho in the eyes seriously, yet with a look of sympathy, and rose, "But why? Why did you attack Hermione?"  
  
Cho could feel her face get hotter. Was she to tell him the real reason, that she was jealous at how much Harry cared for her, the way she he would always run to Hermione's side and not Cho's? The thought of confessing that was far too embarrassing, yet only yesterday she had screamed out that she loved him for the entire Great Hall to hear. What was the difference?  
  
"I did it, um, because I hate her," Cho started and Harry looked at Cho is shock. "But don't think I hate her because of her personality." Cho stopped and thought about the entire situation. Hermione had always been sensitive to Cho, as if she was delicate and might break if handled wrong. "I hate her because of you. I hate her because you," Cho paused again and then continued unwillingly, "because you love her."  
  
Tears dripped out of Cho's eyes as she turned her head to face anything but Harry. She didn't want him to see her cry. Harry looked taken aback and began to say, "Cho, I don't love-"  
  
"-Me, Harry! You don't love me! I want you to love me the way you love Hermione!" With that Cho broke into hysterical tears, placing her head in her lap despite the pain it brought to her chest. She then felt something on her back and sitting up to see what it was, Cho noticed Harry's arm around her.  
  
"I don't love Hermione like that, Cho. I really don't." Cho looked at Harry suspiciously. "She's like a sister, she helps me with my homework and stuff and I help her knit clothes for S.P.E.W." Cho and Harry chuckled at this, but then Harry went back to grave talking.  
  
"Ever since we, err, left each other last year, I've been trying to hate you, Cho. I've been trying not to care about who you are with and what you've been doing." Cho looked away from Harry when he said this. She herself had tried to forget Harry, but it was like a never-ending battle. She couldn't hate him, she couldn't forget.  
  
"The only consequence of hating you was falling in love with you."  
  
Cho glanced back at Harry. He was smiling; a wide smile that reached nearly from ear to ear, his large dimples plastered to face. Had she heard him right? But by the look of shock she subconsciously displayed on her face, she was sure she did because the next moment he had his arms around her, holding her tight as if he was never going to see her again.  
  
".Harry. Oh, Harry. I love you."  
  
Cho went to bed knowing that night, whether she was at home or Azkaban, she would be able to finally sleep soundly knowing that nothing would ever get between her and Harry again. She had won the battle, no matter the consequences.  
  
Thanks for reading, you guys! I hope that you enjoyed the ending and I'm sorry if I am a sucky writer but this was the first story that I ever published for anyone else to read. I actually made my own HP5 the last three years in preparation for Order of the Phoenix :P I hope that you keep on reading my rubbish and tell me how to get better please! Thanks again for reading my story ( 


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